I recently heard a case about a father, living overseas, who was billed £12,000 for child maintenance by the Child Support Agency (CSA) when he returned to England. My first thought was there had been an administrative error. The rules on child maintenance state that the CSA is unable to become involved in a case when the non-resident parent is habitually resident abroad.

When I explored the facts before me, however, I was soon engulfed in the CSA’s labyrinthine complexities.

According to the CSA’s Quarterly Statistics, more than 6,200 non-resident parents are living abroad but only a quarter of these are paying child maintenance through the CSA. The CSA is unable to enforce maintenance abroad, but this does not mean that the assessed maintenance is written off. Instead, a debt accrues at the CSA in each case. No wonder the CSA has a resource problem – combined, these debts could be in the millions!

Legislation introduced in 1991 meant that on the face of it, a move abroad and habitual residence there was the ideal way for a non-resident parent to evade financial responsibility for a child. This changed in 2000, when the rules were amended to allow for certain circumstances when the CSA would still have jurisdiction to enforce maintenance. These circumstances include: Continue reading »

I have noticed that many new visitors arrive at this blog after entering questions about their predicaments into Google. I asked Cheshire divorce lawyer Robin Charrot if he could help out with some answers.

For most court hearings, you will not play a speaking role. However there are still a few rules to follow. Use common sense: don’t lose your temper, don’t glare at your spouse and don’t sigh, tut or mutter when your spouse’s lawyer is speaking. Pay attention to what is being said. To get your lawyer’s attention, write a short note and tap them on the shoulder. But please don’t do this every five minutes! For further tips see Marilyn Stowe’s post, How To Act In Court.

how to explain to children adultery divorce

However much you blame your spouse for having an affair, resist telling your children “the simple truth”. This will always do more harm than good, because it will give them hopelessly conflicted loyalties. Your children have the right to have the best possible relationship with both their parents. Tell the children that their mum and dad are going to be happier living in different homes. Avoid the emphasis on your spouse’s new partner. In turn, your spouse should not bring his or her new partner onto the scene until the children are used to their parents living apart. Even then it should be done gradually.

how do i get my wife of 20+ years sexually attracted to me again

Not the usual kind of question asked of a family lawyer! Continue reading »

Much has been written by Marilyn Stowe about cohabiting couples and their rights (or lack thereof). I recently helped a client whose problems are so complicated, they could form the basis of an exam question on cohabitation.

This man was given a substantial sum of money by his parents when he was just 21. He decided to invest it. He bought four properties with the money and spent the remaining £50,000 refurbishing one of them. He has nothing left.

He took his girlfriend to a solicitors’ office; because they were in love and he intended to marry her, the properties were actually purchased in their joint names. His solicitor did not ask him to consider what would happen if the relationship broke down. So nothing was agreed and no protection was obtained for all the money he had put into those properties.

The couple lived together in the most expensive property. Her relations moved into two of the others and his sister moved into the remaining property, on a rent-free basis.

Then the girlfriend became pregnant and a baby. My client has evidence that another man is the father, although the girlfriend denies this. She refuses to move out of the house and “wants her share.” She is suggesting that he sees the baby once a fortnight. To the client’s disbelief he has now also heard from CMEC (formerly the CSA), who require him to maintain the child. Continue reading »

Guest Blogger and Solicitor Rachel Baul joined Stowe Family Law in 2004, and is a member of the Law Society’s Family Law Panel. She specialises in all areas of family law and ancillary relief, and has been commended by a number of the firm’s high profile clients.

Rachel Baul

My previous posts about the Child Support Agency and its replacement, C-MEC, drew a number of pointed comments and questions from readers. Thank you to everyone who got in touch.

I would like to emphasise that every case is different and my responses are not intended as substitutes for tailored legal advice. If there are question marks over your case, you should consult a solicitor. However, I very much hope that my answers may be of benefit to questioners and others.

Question: I have recently received the assessment from the CSA. My son’s father has to pay £5 a week – he has lied about his income, and is self employed. He is actually a very successful TV producer who earns at least £50k a year. What can I do to question this? It’s a disgrace and unjust. It reflects a serious loophole in the system and I want to fight it all the way – not just for my son but for other children and their mums. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Rachel says: If you can demonstrate his income, either through paperwork such as proof of contracts or by his standard of living (this may require a private investigator), you can apply to a CSA team that specialises in working out payment calculations for those whose incomes are not easy to ascertain. Unfortunately, when a person’s income is largely cash or fluctuates heavily, it is always difficult to prove that the actual income is greater than the amount disclosed by that person.

  Continue reading »

This has been a busy week – even by my standards!

In addition to my day to day work, I was invited to appear on BBC 1’s The One Show, to discuss the imminent introduction of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC). It is set to take over from the much-loathed Child Support Agency. However, as I have noted in previous posts about the CSA, there are already question marks over this replacement organisation’s fitness for purpose.

I note that on The One Show’s blog, the topic has already attracted almost 300 comments from viewers. Frankly, I’m not surprised. For many of those who have encountered the old CSA – be they parents, children or legal professionals – feelings about this deeply flawed  organisation run high.  Click below to see the item.

Readers who seek further information about CMEC may wish to Continue reading »

A guest post by Rachel Baul of Stowe Family Law.

Further to my last guest post, which answered some common questions about the CSA, here are ten things that you should know about the changes currently in hand.

The CSA is currently undergoing huge revisions. Later this year it will be phased out and replaced by C-MEC (Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission).  All cases should have been transferred to C-MEC by the end of 2011. C-MEC will become fully operational from 2013-2014.

C-MEC aims to simplify and streamline assessments, and improve the collection process. A number of changes are planned, and he most significant of these are as follows: 

Continue reading »

Rachel Baul

Solicitor Rachel Baul joined Stowe Family Law in 2004, and is a member of the Law Society’s Family Law Panel. She specialises in all areas of family law and ancillary relief, and has been commended by a number of the firm’s high profile clients.

The breakdown of a relationship is never easy, but the involvement of children can make a difficult break-up emotionally and financially gut-wrenching.

Not every couple will need the Child Support Agency’s help – many come to amicable agreements that work well and support the best interests of the child – but in the absence of an agreement the CSA is arguably the easiest and cheapest way to ensure that child maintenance is paid.

You can ask your lawyer to pre-empt the CSA when preparing a financial settlement upon divorce, by taking into account whether it is appropriate to combine spousal and child maintenance into a global figure. This can then be enforced even if an application to the CSA is later made by the non-resident parent.

This is certainly an avenue to pursue given the CSA’s reputation, with those using the service complaining of serious difficulties. Frequently it appears that there is no uniformity of advice. Phoning 3 different departments can result in 3 different answers to the same question.

Given the administrative problems at the CSA, and the emotional pressure involved, I am often asked to advise people on how to deal with the agency. I have listed some of the most common questions, along with my advice, below.

Continue reading »

  The law needs changing – the Government must do more than tinker at the edges

Although I believe that the increased number of unmarried couples has created problems that are not covered with existing legislation, I was startled to learn that the Government has unveiled proposals to make unmarried mothers declare their children’s fathers on birth certificates.  

At present, only children born to married couples must have a father’s name entered on their birth certificates. When a mother and father are not married, the naming is at the mother’s discretion. Every year nearly 50,000 babies – seven per cent of the total – are “sole-registered”, with only the mother’s name on their certificate.

The new proposals are described by The Daily Telegraph as follows:

Mothers will be forced to name their child’s father on birth certificates for the first time under Government plans which will improve collection of child maintenance from absent fathers.

The 45,000 mothers who leave the father’s name blank when registering a birth each year will have to identify him unless they can prove it is “impossible, impractical or unreasonable” to do so.

Once a name is given, the potential father will be contacted and ordered to register or submit to a paternity test. If a DNA test is positive, the man’s name will be recorded on the child’s birth records.

Fathers who deny paternity, but do not undertake a DNA test, will face potential fines.   

Speaking as a family lawyer, I’m less than impressed. Continue reading »

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOji4H3Jgfw [/youtube] 

Where did the justice go?

When I was a pupil at Leeds Girls’ High School, (how many years ago?!!!) each week we had to learn some Shakespeare by heart. The meaning of what we learned was never explained beforehand, and we had to work it out for ourselves. The following day we had to take turns to recite it from memory, with all the meaning we had attributed to it. This was quite difficult to do, but one speech fascinated me more than the others. I have never forgotten learning Portia’s role as the male lawyer in the Merchant of Venice, and her words about the “quality of mercy” in the law. This famous speech argues that there is room for moral obligations within the law’s confines.

I think Portia fashioned my own approach to the law, and fired up my enthusiasm for becoming a lawyer. I liked her clever arguments. I liked her understanding of justice because it is mine too.  “Justice” can often mean something completely different to two people caught up on opposing sides of the same case. Justice is about more than administration; it is about tempering the application of law with mercy, to bring about the right result. This is how the law is applied within the English legal system, in both the civil and criminal courts. It is a system within which I have been privileged to work, and I love it.

However, reading The Times about the new reforms to the Child Support Agency, I wondered for the umpteenth time when the principles of mercy and justice will come into play.

Continue reading »